Thomas Haden Church - Venom or not to Venom?

[adamjohnson]

Remember those rumors late last week that Chloe Sevigny might be starring as the villain, Black Cat, in SPIDER-MAN 3? Well check that. In a surprise announcement this morning, Sony Pictures announced who would be playing the villain in the film and it's not Ms. Sevigny or Black Cat. Academy Award nominee Thomas Haden Church has signed on to play Spider-Man's nemesis in SPIDER-MAN 3 said director Sam Raimi. "In addition to the ongoing relationship between Peter Parker and M.J., these films are driven by the great actors who have brought our villains to life," Raimi said. "Thomas Haden Church will be a fantastic and challenging new nemesis, and we all look forward to working with him." Unfortunately it was not confirmed who Church would be starring as. While this is not confirmed, JoBlo.com sources have whispered in my ear that Church will indeed be starring as Eddie Brock/Venom. They certainly do bear a resemblance and it makes the most sense to have Venom (and/or Carnage) in SPIDER-MAN 3 as the villain.

Venom came to be after Spider-Man returned to Earth after the first Secret War with a new black costume. Once Spidey learned the costume was actually an alien symbiote trying to bond with his body, he jettisoned it and returned to his classic red and blue duds. Brock, who despised Spider-Man, accidentally found the costume/symbiote and the alien sensed his anger toward the web-slinger and they bonded created the villainous Venom. Most interestingly, because of their former bond, Spider-Man's "spidey sense" is rendered useless against Venom. Another actor, R.C. Everbeck, made a brief cameo (that was mostly cut) in the original SPIDER-MAN but since only geeks like me know something as pointless as that, don't expect the producers to try and explain this. Again, while it has been confirmed Thomas Haden Church will star, it HAS NOT been confirmed yet that he will star as Venom. That's just what we're hearing here at JoBlo headquarters. (Proving there are two sides to every story, AICN says they're hearing it might be Sandman and not Venom.) More on this as it develops...
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While he could certainly pull off the look of either Eddie Brock or, um, Sandman he personally feels more like a Sandman. (Unfortunately)

Hes no stranger to being the bad guy though - anyone remember Demon Knight??

I hope he's Venom. God, let it be so.

Hmm, Lets see.

http://joblo.com/newsimages1/hadenchurch.jpg

http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/images/venom/eddie_brock.jpg

OR--

http://www.geocities.com/the_gzone/sandman.jpg

Hmmm.

[CyclicNightmare]

I hope to God its Venom.

[Thrizzle]

Before i read the bit about Venom, i thought he would make a good Scorpion...the age would be right anyway. Eddie Brock is supposed to be a young guy.

Anyway, i really hope he is Venom, because that would KIIIIICK AAAAASSSS.

[LordSimen]

He looks like Sandman to me, and a little old for Venom.
http://www.alaph.com/spiderman/pictures/enemies/sandman/sandman01.jpg

[Sigur509]

I never would have considered CHurch to play Venom. But now thats its been brought up, I think its the perfect casting choice.

[Patrick Bateman]

I'm hoping that Church is VENOM.

Never would have thought of him as Eddie Brock, but the more I think about it. The more I like it. Sandman is good and all, but Venom would be so much more satisfying.

Maybe Raimi changed his mind about Venom? I hope so!

[bigred760]

I don't see how he couldn't be Venom. I mean, he's big right now following his Oscar nomination for Sideways. Plus, he could do it - he's practically perfect for the part. Bring it on!!

[MisterTwister]

I think Church is a great actor and i would love to see him play Venom.

[zeppelin]

Not to smash your hopes, but I really don't think he'll be playing Venom. It's just a feeling I have. I think they're going to make us wait one more movie for the villain everyone wants. They'll probably give us a nice little hint at the end of Spider-Man 3 that Venom is coming up in the next one, but he won't show up until Spider-Man 4, not 3. Just a feeling a have.

As for Thomas Haden Church, he could definitely make a great Sandman. Scorpion and Mysterio are distinct possibilites as well. Then again, they probably won't pick Scorpion, since both Doc Ock and Green Goblin are results of the same type of technology-taken-too-far scenario, which is what Scorpion is as well. So either Sandman or Mysterio, I'd say.

[Spike014]

I'd prefer Mysterio than sandman as I've never actually seen Sandman, but he sounds crap,what is his power exactly?

[bourahioro]

Honestly, I am personally so fucking sick of hearing about Venom, I like v\Venom, but for christ sakes, there are more villains that they could tap into, and using Venom should be something they would do in a 4th or 5th movie.....so that in the third they could set up the whole venom/symbiote thing......if they use Venom in the 3rd movie, it will be a waste of that character. I personally think that they should use that character after using some other good villains, like Electro, Sandman, Lizard, or even Kraven the hunter......


Like I said, I like Venom, but HE IS NOT THE FUCKING BE ALL AND END ALL OF SPIDERMAN VILLAINS!!!!!

[adamjohnson]

Originally posted by Spike014
I'd prefer Mysterio than sandman as I've never actually seen Sandman, but he sounds crap,what is his power exactly?

Umm SAND.

No, really, he controls sand. The interesting thing is that he can harden the sand to any density and shape - think T2. Raimi may very well add some stuff to this the way he did the last 2 villains to make it slightly more interesting.

[Sandstone]

Screw u all.. GIVE US VENOM

The first spiderman was a fun action moive

the second was a toucvhing emotional great flick

the 3rd should be a dark horror like flick..

Bring on venom!!!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/kornb1ind/venom1.bmp

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by bourahioro
Honestly, I am personally so fucking sick of hearing about Venom, I like v\Venom, but for christ sakes, there are more villains that they could tap into, and using Venom should be something they would do in a 4th or 5th movie.....so that in the third they could set up the whole venom/symbiote thing......if they use Venom in the 3rd movie, it will be a waste of that character. I personally think that they should use that character after using some other good villains, like Electro, Sandman, Lizard, or even Kraven the hunter......

I completely agree. Venom has never been my favorite villain anyway, but even still, I think they should give him a proper treatment in the movies. To put him in this next movie without any symbiote costume introduction story would be rushing it.

Personally, this is what I would do if I got to plan the Spider-Man sequels from now on:

Spider-Man 3: Sandman and Green Goblin II. This would end the Peter Parker vs. Harry Osborne story that's been building up since the first one.

Spider-Man 4: Man-Wolf and Electro. Spider-Man would also acquire the symbiote costume in this one, and at the climax of the movie, would snap and kill Man-Wolf, who is of course Jonah Jameson's son. To make things more complicated, only Spider-Man knows that Jameson's son is the Man-Wolf, and so when he kills the creature and turns back into his human form before his death, it looks as if he'd killed Jameson's son for no apparent reason. The symbiote would be the cause of this, as it controls him and he loses control while fighting. Electro would be the cause of Spidey losing the costume, as the movie would take liberties changing the costume's weakness from loud sound to electricity.

Spider-Man 5: Scorpion and Kraven. Jameson flips out after finding out his son had been killed by Spider-Man, and decides to get revenge by creating Scorpion to hunt down Spider-Man. He also puts a ransom on Spidey's head for anyone to bring him in, which is where Kraven comes into play, being a hunter and all. Eddie Brock would also play a major role in this one, leading up to the final scene in which we find out who the villain in the next, and final, Spider-Man movie would be.

Spider-Man 6: Just give all these Venom fans what they want. Just one big showdown, simple as that.

Obviously, there are a lot of villains that wouldn't make it to the screen, including some very popular ones like Lizard, Vulture, Mysterio, Rhino, etc., but to have every villain show up would just be overkill, I think.

[Dirtmunky]

I think its sorta accidently been confirmed that its venom now. At the Microsoft E3 conference they showed a montage of new xbox games and one of them was Spiderman 3 and guess who they showed as the villain?

http://www.zenadsl6236.zen.co.uk/Venom.jpg

I dunno it is only a game, but it is the game of the movie, so you'd think it was right.

[Dirtmunky]

Sorry, jumped the gun abit there, apparently its from the "ultimate spiderman" game.